The Brand New Creature - Softcover

Beeke, Jemma

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1862330379 ISBN 13: 9781862330375

Publisher: Levinson Inst, 1999

Synopsis

"Hand-crafted paper gives the book's brightly colored, childlike paintings an appealing texture..."--Publishers Weekly. Warm earth tones prevail in the illustrations, successfully conveying a hazy aridness to a fanciful setting. Textured backgrounds and the feathered watercolors combine with delicate hues to create diaphanous images in an imaginative safari to friendship."--Kirkus Reviews. "...a child sets out from her yard in search of a crocodile. Unfortunately, never having seen a wild animal, she can't tell one from another--and so the stage is set for a simply told tale...Entertaining...for younger children..."--Booklist. "The soft, colorful paintings on flecked handmade paper are inviting."--School Library Journal.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews:

Weary of the mundane creatures inhabiting her yard, a young girl embarks upon a walkabout in search of a crocodile, which she has never seen. In her journey she encounters many unusual creatures, and asks each if it is a crocodile. The giraffe, un named by the text, answers, ``No. A crocodile is not nearly as tall as I am, and it does not have such a pretty pattern.'' ``Then I am sorry to have troubled you,'' says the narrator. A chance encounter with an emergent hatchling leads to a surprise for t he young explorer. ``The brand new creature laughed its brand new laugh, and said in its brand new voice, `No, I do not know [what a crocodile looks like]. I am a brand new creature and I know nothing at all.' Then I began to laugh as well.'' The brief de scriptions of the animals in the narrative and the illustrations will leave no doubt in children's minds as to the identities of the animals, but just in case, all creatures appear, labeled, on the endpapers. Warm earth tones prevail in the illustrations, successfully conveying a hazy aridness to a fanciful setting. Textured backgrounds and the feathered watercolors combine with delicate hues to create diaphanous images in an imaginative safari to friendship. (Picture book. 5-9) -- Copyright ©199 8, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly:

Deciding that "a crocodile would be much more fun to play with" than the chicken and the cat in her yard, the young narrator of this tale from a British team goes in search of one. However, she has "never seen a crocodile, nor any other wild creature." Thus a predictable sequence of encounters is set in motion, in which the girl asks various animals, "Excuse me, but are you a crocodile?" and finally finds one, newly hatched (neither she nor the creature know what it is, however). The most child-pleasing aspect of the story is what the author playfully omits: while each critter explains to the child how it differs from a crocodile, it never identifies itself (a snake tells the girl, "a crocodile cannot slither and slide as smoothly as I can"), leaving readers to supply the missing moniker. However, while the snake's clues may define its species, other animals' hints offer little help (e.g., the wild boar replies, "A crocodile is not as ugly as I am"). Hand-crafted paper gives the book's brightly colored, childlike paintings an appealing texture, but the sometimes hazy, unfocused images do little to clarify the characteristics of the more challenging creatures. Ages 5-8.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Levinson Inst
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 1862330379
• ISBN 13: 9781862330375
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Beeke Tiphanie